KALAMAZOO, MI – The vital signs of a teenage girl with autism who police say was the victim of a murder/suicide attempt by her mother have improved but she is still unresponsive and in intensive care, according to a Facebook message posted by the girl’s father Thursday afternoon.

“She is currently receiving help from a respirator and breathing tube and her blood pressure is stable. At this time, she is still unresponsive after being lifted from the medically induced coma she was put in for the treatment of her injuries.”

The teen was hospitalized Tuesday after what Michigan State Police in Cadillac say was an attempt by her 45-year-old mother to kill the teen and herself by filling the family’s van with carbon monoxide.

State police have arrested the teen’s mother on a charge of attempted murder and she is in protective custody.

Police have not released the woman’s name or the name of her daughter. Friends, however, have identified the woman as Kelli Stapleton and her daughter, 14-year-old Issy.

The family was featured in a Traverse City Record-Eagle story in March that told of Issy’s acute autism, episodes of violence, and the family’s struggle to fund a full eight-month treatment program in Kalamazoo County.

Issy had been at The Great Lakes Center for Autism Treatment and Research in Portage. But, according to Kelli Stapleton’s recent blog posts, that treatment ended last month and Issy was preparing to enter a special-education program in her local school district in Benzie County.

In the Facebook post, Matt Stapleton said his wife was still hospitalized “as of this morning (Wednesday).

Stapleton also gave thanks to people for their thoughts and prayers in the wake of the incident involving his wife and daughter.

He said the family is “upbeat and positive” and expects to see improvements in his daughter over the next 12 to 24 hours.

“We ask that you continue to keep the focus on Isabelle’s recovery and not necessarily on the events that have brought us to this unfortunate fight for her life,” Stapleton said in the post. “We ask that people don’t judge, but instead direct their positive energies on the recovery of this beautiful young lady.”